Viva’s Blog: Customers crave simplicity: Do you deliver?

HAPPY BELLY GETS IT

Familiar with Happy Belly, one of Amazon’s new packaged goods brands? Amazon Prime members can now buy hundreds of different Happy Belly food products, notable for simple branding and packaging. The Happy Belly logo ties to the Amazon logo with its signature grin, and sports an easy to read typeface. Amazon isn’t trying to wow customers with magic formulas or fancy technology. Instead the basic name of the product– Yogurt Trail Mix, Ground Cinnamon, French Roast Coffee – is front and center on the label without distracting messages.

Buying a Happy Belly product is easy.

ALDI’S GETS IT

Aldi’s ranked #1 in the Global Brand Simplicity Index. Why? Offering a straightforward shopping experience is central to Aldi’s success. Stores are smaller, product choice is low, and their store layout is consistent.

Aldi’s just announced it is investing $1.6 billion to remodel 1,300 of its 1,600 stores to deliver the simple experience their customers want. Its new store format is designed so customers can finish their weekly shopping in less than 30 minutes.

Shopping at Aldi’s is easy.

MY BIKING SHOE COMPANY
DOESN’T GET IT

Ever try to reorder a pair of beloved running or biking shoes? It’s amazing how quickly the love dissipates! Sure, you can easily find the brand online, but which model is “your” shoe? I’m certain a team of the most creative minds at the company spent many hours brainstorming clever names. There’s the “Shot”, “Genius 7”, “Ergo 4” and the list goes on. What they forgot to consider is what the various names mean to us – their customer.  How are we supposed to know the difference between each style?

Perhaps the name of the biking shoe and size were printed inside my shoes, but after miles of biking, they’re long gone.

Buying another pair of my beloved biking shoes is not easy.